


The Fire Lord's vacation's

by sldlovestv18



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26877289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sldlovestv18/pseuds/sldlovestv18
Summary: A reflection on Zuko's vacation and traveling after becoming Fire Lord.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	The Fire Lord's vacation's

The first time Zuko took a break as Fire Lord wasn’t his choice. Since the moment he was crowned in the summer when he was sixteen, till then, he didn’t rest much. The team, as well as all the palace staff, loved how determined and hard working he was, how he never gave up; but by the time that his first year on the throne passed, they were getting concerned. That hard head really didn’t know when to quit. After Aang found him sleeping in a hallway on a surprise visit, he tried to convince him to take a break. All leaders take vacations, had free time, he said, just last week Hakoda took his kids on an extended camping and hunting trip. They even came back with a rather large animal skin (and it was disgusting), he said. And when that didn’t work he tattled on Zuko to his Uncle. He got weird a proverb thrown at him before the old tea shop owner shrugged his shoulders before telling him he was letting Agni take the wheel here. Zuko has proven himself able to find his way himself, he didn’t need him anymore. If Zuko needed him, he knew where he was. Zuko was old enough to know his limits.

He was wrong.

Just a couple months short of his 18th birthday, Zuko passed out at a peace ball being thrown in the Fire Nation. Which, besides scaring the everybody half way to the spirit world, also almost caused an international incident. It no longer became a choice, and boy did Zuko try and make it a choice, but it was taken out of his hands. He was sent to Ember Island with Mai. He was sent hawks when something absolutely needed his approval, but that wasn’t often. They didn’t let him back until he turned eighteen and if the other world leaders started to ease up on him after that, that was their business. The young Fire Lord seemed to learn his lesson after that and delegated more of his work, so the next time he took a break it was on purpose. With enough prep, he could afford to take two week breaks at least twice a year. And then, sometime in his twenties it started to get… weird. 

He’d married Mai, who had noticed how much Zuko missed traveling. So, she made a deal with him. When he started to get too restless, he would tell her, and she and Aang (she’d run things at home while Aang handled his international business) would run things while he went on a little adventure. He took her up on it a few months latter. He gave them an outline of what he was trying to get done at the time and then he disappeared in a small war- sorry- hot air balloon. He was gone a month.

A month.

They wanted to be mad, they did, when he landed, happier than they had seen him in months, missing half the clothes he left with and baring gifts, the feeling vanished. He’d also came back with large jars filled with things he’d gathered. Turns out he traveled around the deserts of the Earth Kingdom, got high on cactus juice and was ‘enlightened’. Mai thought he was still high. The anger came back when they found out what he did with the stuff he gathered. 

It was over a year after he’d gone on the trip, and they were attending a birthday ball for the King of Ba Sing Se. They, along with of nations leader were invited there to mingle with the Earth Kingdom nobility. Promote peace and all that noise. Well…

“Greetings, King Kuei, it’s nice to see you.” The Fire Lord bowed to the Earth king, and he bowed back. 

“And you as well. Been to the Republic lately?”

“I did drop by sometime a few months ago, isn’t amazing how our cultures are mixing. I saw a bunch of little family’s with earth and fire bending children, playing a ball game. The fire benders were using their fire to give their kicks some force, and the earth benders used to propel the ball around, it was precious. I’m pretty sure I even saw a few water benders as well. I had tea made by a none bending family who moved there to make a life.” Zuko smiled. 

“Yes, I had heard about the games kids are playing in the republic, and the rest.”

“Anyways, that’s not why I’m over here.” His eyes glimmered with mischief that peaked the kings interest. “The Avatar told me you spent some time wondering around the wilds after my sister took the city.”

“Ah, yes, that was fun. Really helped me get in touch with the earth.”

“Well, about a year ago I took a little vacation in the deserts of the earth kingdom. After which I made this.” Zuko pulled out a small orange bottle. “It’s a mix of cactus juice, juice of desert fruits and rice pulp that I let ferment and then ran through a sieve. I thought you might appreciate it.”

“Fire Lord Zuko, you made desert moonshine?” Kuei smirked, plucking the bottle from his hands. 

“I trust you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, haven’t had any since I came back.” He uncorked it and gave it a sniff before returning Zuko’s look of mischief. “Well, it is my birthday. Would you mind sharing a drink of it with me?”

“I was hoping you would ask.” A smirk propped up on both men’s faces.

That night went down in fame, or infamy depending on who you asked, as the night the Fire Lord and the Earth King absolutely tripped balls at the king’s birthday ball. Neither man regretted anything, all their loved ones had enough regret to make up for it. The only plus side was Zuko had managed to strengthen the loose ties he had with the king since the start of the Republic, which is the only reason he wasn’t killed on the spot. Mai never found where he hid the rest. The bastard.

The next trip he went on was more tame, he went to a remote village with Mai when she a month away from giving birth. 

They came back early because Mai fell ill. Izumi was born two weeks early, and Mai persisted for two weeks after that. Whispers went around the Capital city, about how it wasn’t a surprise. ‘That girl always had frail health, that’s why she became so proficient with throwing knives, that’s why her and the Fire Lord bonded’ people said ‘The Fire Lord had been frail until he hit his teens, and he meet the Fire Lady when they were young’. Zuko didn’t say much. After the funeral pyre, the only time anybody saw the Fire Lord in person was when they officially presented Izumi as the Crown Fire Princess when she was six months old. He had bought enough good will with world leaders that they gave him space to grieve, though the site of an air bison swooping in became more common than it had been since the first few years of his rule. 

And things went back to normal, after a little over a year. Zuko stopped going on trips, he focused all his might on world peace and his daughter. And then Izumi turned seven, and rumors that the Fire Lord was going to start taking vacations with his daughter now that she was older and she was getting along in her training, whispers amongst the leaders of the world. No details, the Fire Lord was friendly, but he did keep to himself, he was very private.

The capital tribe of the Southern Water Tribe got direct confirmation when a little Izumi waddled in, bundled up in an enormous amount of coats, and what looked to be the world’s warmest hat. Luckily, Katara was near the gates and spotted her right away. 

“Izumi! What are you doing here?” She went and crouched down, a thing she would regret when she needed to get up since she was seven months pregnant, to check to make sure she was safe.

“Dad is going to need help.” Izumi said, undisturbed by her aunt’s shock, looking around. “We are on a vacation, and he wanted to camp out in the Southern Water Tribe. He asked your Dad, Chief Hakoda, I’m surprised he didn’t tell you.” 

“Zuko needs help?”

“A saber-tiger-seal attacked us outside the igloo we made, Dad stabbed it in the neck with his dao. We brought enough rations to last us, so he wanted to take it here. He’ll be here soon.” She looked at Katara with golden eyes. “Aunt Katara, Dad is an idiot.”

“I know, sweetie.” The waterbender sighed before heaving herself up to a standing position and cupping her hands around her mouth. “Sokka!!! You’re needed at the gates!!!”

“Is that going to work?” The princess’s brows pinched. The village was getting pretty big.

“If he doesn’t hear it, somebody will pass on the message.” Her yell had already attracted someone.

“Sweetheart, is something wrong?” Aang said, appearing from around the corner with Bumi in tow. He spots the fire nation girl. “Izumi?”

“Hi Uncle Aang!” The girl grinned, her father’s smile no doubt. “Dad’s doing something stupid.”

“Sounds like Zuko.” The last airbender said, and said Zuko appeared, dragging a saber-tiger-seal on some sort sled, like he’d been summoned.

“Need a little help here!” Zuko was wearing a more reasonable amount of layers than his daughter and Sokka finally ran in like a mouse-bat out of the spirit realm, spotting Zuko immediately and running to him.

“What did you do!?”

“He attacked our camp.” Zuko said, still dragging the thing into town. “I need help cleaning it. I wanted to know if you think I could make a weapon out some of it’s bones? I want a souvenir from the trip, and I like to collect daggers. Maybe some fat for cooking, too…”

“Yeah, Fire Lord Hotman, your fire-ness, why are you here? With a seven year-old?” Aang asked, trying to ignore the animal corpse. 

“I figured Izumi and I could use a break. I thought we could do something adventurous, and I thought getting out of the fire nation would do Izumi good.”

“Understanding other nations will be important when I’m Fire Lord.” Izumi said, the picture of seriousness. “Direct exposure to the nations is more effe- effective? Than reading. Survival training is useful, and Dad is teaching me about my breath of fire.”

“Don’t forget the most important part.” Zuko called, dragging the beast faster now with Sokka’s help. 

“And we thought it’d be fun.” 

“That’s right!” The Fire Lord grunted, now focused entirely on the task at hand. 

“He also said I’d get to see the tribes, and I haven’t seen them since I was four. We also figured that you’d be here for the summer, until you give birth.” She looked up at Katara, having clearly discarded her father to leave him to his devices, and waddled forward. “I was reading a book on traditional hairstyles of the nations and their meanings, could you do my hair while Dad is playing with dead things?”

“Sure, Izumi, it’ll be good practice for if this one is a girl.” She said, cradling her bump. “Why don’t we get you into something more comfortable, that’s a lot of layers.”

“I’m wearing five coats over three thick robes.” The Fire princess lamented, looking her age for the first time since she walked in. “Dad is the one that decided we should go someplace cold, why do I have to suffer?”

“Your dad doesn’t always think ahead.” Aang sighed, holding onto Bumi so he didn’t follow after his Uncle Sokka. “Did he at least bring enough supplies?”

“We are perfectly safe, Uncle Aang, if anything he was over prepared.” She said, getting lead off by Katara. “He’s been acting like a dizzy turtle-duck. He decided to come now because I’m a big girl, but he’s still acting like I’m a baby.”

Yeah, that sounded like Zuko, to be aware of his daughter’s freakish competence and intelligence to the point he knew she could handle an adventure to help build her character, but protective enough that he’d take a lot of the fun out of it by fussing. 

Izumi got her hair done in a style that represented growth, and Zuko was able to convince Sokka to help him make bone weapons. A dagger and a throwing knife that made Izumi’s eye shined. Zuko also commissioned some coats be made for them, for the next time they visit. They’d come visit the village two more times after that, but Aang took Bumi out to see them pretty frequently. Zuko let it slip that he was planning on taking two, two week trips a year with his daughter. Something about him learning about peace, and he who was, and yadda yadda yadda, when he traveled the world in exile. Aang wished he would bring guards with him, but Zuko never took guards on non-political trips because Zuko was like a one man army and a royal entourage attracts trouble, and ‘Most people won’t even know it’s me if I don’t wear the crown and we don’t tell them, no one knows what foreign leaders look like, Aang’. Turns out he attracts more assassins when he has guards outside the palace walls, weird. Aang was still a bit worried Zuko had some sort of death wish, considering he’s talked like he was about to die the entire time he’s known him and also the everything else about him. Aang, being an air nomad, understood the need to travel, but if he had hair he’d be pulling it out. 

Now, in all fairness, Zuko was good at keeping his trips secret. Most of the time after the Southern Water Tribe, nobody found out until after the fact. But, when Izumi was nine she figured out how the messenger hawks work, and she would give important updates to the Gaang and Uncle. The first, and by far the most shocking, of these updates being when one day Aang got a scroll dropped in his lap that contained a rough drawing of Zuko, Izumi, and what appeared to be a dragon hatchling and the words ‘Father found a dragon’. Aang thought his heart was going to give out. 

The dragon, Druk, didn’t become a problem till later. Zuko was content with those two trips a year… until he gave the throne to Izumi and said he was going to be an Ambassador of Peace, which really just meant he could fulfill his wildest dreams of traveling the world helping people, and swooping into important fights. Problem was, he only traveled on dragon back, so most of the time nobody had any idea where the hell he was if he wasn’t on Ember Island or with his daughter or his grandkids. Well, Izumi always seemed to have an idea where he was, but she knew everything so that hardly counts. Having the former Fire Lord disappear for long periods of time worried most people who weren’t his daughter, though he was always there when he was needed and settled them a bit. 

That said, it never failed to freak everybody out when Zuko would causally swoop down on a dragon right by Fire Lord Izumi or on the hull of a ship Iroh was commanding, greet them with a smile and bow, and throw them a bag of goodies from wherever he’d just been, had tea with them right then and there, before leaving, bidding the his family goodbye causally and the stunned onlookers with all the dignity of his former station. Then he’d be gone like nothing ever happened.

Even the people who were most sure about his safety and sanity were glad when he settled down and started spending more time at Ember Island and a bit more like the old man he was. Sometimes he’d even give a warning before he showed up on a damn dragon.

**Author's Note:**

> I tend to pick and choose which parts of the Avatar comics I choose to believe, and I liked the idea Azula put forward about Zuko just wanting to travel around helping folks. Because yeah, Zuko seems the type to get the travel bug. He's too much like Iroh like that. So I rambled about it for 2K+ words. If you read this whole thing, I'm sorry.


End file.
